The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA) was enacted to provide compensation to workers who were injured while on the job in the United States' navigable waters. Most any worker who becomes disabled is entitled to medical care, lost wages and...
Commercial boat accidents are much like plane crashes. They don't happen all that frequently, but when they do, they're often catastrophic. One of the reasons why water vessels become involved in serious accidents and people aboard often end up hurt is due to...
Although no one expects a car accident, most drivers know how to handle one. They may take photographs of the scene for insurance purposes or call the police to report a serious incident. But the process can be unclear in the case of a boating accident, when effects...
Cruise ships have a certain reputation for being less-than hygenic at the best of times. Some people have even referred to them as "floating Petri dishes" because they essentially put a lot of people together into small spaces and keep them there for a few weeks. That...
One ever-popular show on television (TV) is Bravo's Below Deck. In case you haven't watched the program before, it gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like to work as a deckhand on a superyacht for the rich and famous. The work that these individuals...
Maintenance and cure, like so many terms from the long history of seamanship, is exactly what it sounds like. Maintenance is the cost of living while on a ship or in recovery due to injuries suffered on a ship. Cure is the expense of medical treatment and other...
If you're on a factory floor and a forklift drives over your foot, you know where to go. One should seek medical attention, document the incident and possibly file a claim for workers' compensation. But if a similar thing happens on the deck of a ship in the Long...
The survivors of a fatal Mattituck boating accident in November have put the Town on Southold on notice that they plan to sue them. They are collectively seeking $30 million for their losses against the New York town.A Southhold Police report shows that four...
Commercial divers have very dangerous work environments. Each dive could result in a fatal encounter with marine life or an equipment failure that puts them in jeopardy.Another risk for commercial divers is undercurrents. These currents form naturally to maintain the...
It doesn't matter whether you are skippering a small boat or serving as a captain to a large ship. The one thing that the individual charged with navigating a water vessel most dreads is operating it in rough seas. Doing this puts crew and passengers at a significant...